One year on and Malaysia is still implementing the same strategy. The harsh measures have caused severe socio-economic damage. This paper will highlight how the ongoing Covid-19 response lockdown strategy and weak social protection policy have disproportionately affected the poor and vulnerable even further and has pushed a portion of the middle class into poverty. The best way forward in the immediate term to avoid further hardship is to implement social expenditure measures that are based on the lifecycle approach which would not only have a wider coverage but aid programmes will benefit the demographic groups most at risk.
